Leaving the Nest
by FanWriter Asher
Summary: A short single chapter story. Rose Weasley's perspective of the final scene in Deathly Hallows as she says goodbye to her family and prepares to go to Hogwarts. Hope you enjoy.


Rose's POV

* * *

 _I hate being late._

You could say I got that from my mother; like me, she always preferred to be _at least_ fifteen minutes early and as far as I knew, that went for every special occasion; and if I adopted this rule into my life the most important time to act upon it would have been when getting to platform Nine and Three-quarters before the Hogwarts Express left without me.

"Would you slow down, Rose?" Dad called to me as I hurried on ahead of him, mum, and Hugo – my little brother. I glanced over my shoulder, frowning at them.

"We still have ten minutes before the train leaves." Mum added. I ignored them but slowed down a little. It didn't matter that we had ten minutes left, what mattered was getting on board with Albus and finding the right compartment. Finding the right compartment was _essential_ and I'd be dammed if I let anyone or anything come between me and the perfect beginning of our first year at Hogwarts I'd dreamed about.

We were late because someone (Dad) happened to forget to pick up my ticket and only remembered when we arrived at Kings Cross. We'd driven here but when we realized Dad had left my ticket, Mum had told him to apparate home and fetch it but that had been a mess because Hugo had demanded to go with him but it was Hugo's first time apparating and he blew chunks all over the floor – and then all over the pavement outside when they apparated back. Hugo was pale anyway; like me he'd inherited dad's fair complexion, freckles and red hair. But now he looked paler than usual.

"Come on!" I urged with all seriousness but mum and dad exchanged a look and smiled. I was glad they found this so amusing.

Up ahead I saw a handful of witches and wizards – you could tell from their robes, and their trollies which carried their trunks and caged owls – head for a bricked off section of wall between platforms nine and ten. There it was. The barrier.

"Ready?" Mum asked. I nodded, barely able to contain my enthusiasm. This was it. Together, the four of us walked straight at the wall. A part of me wanted to stop and step aside – an instinct when coming face to face with a brick wall. But the impending impact and pain didn't come. I felt a wave of magic wash over my body, leaving tingles on the back of my neck. When I opened my eyes we were on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

Immediately everything felt better. Brighter. More Magical. More real. The platform was lit up with colour. People wearing purple robes and emerald hats. Trollies rolled by on their own; paper airplanes and birds flew by, spinning around my head and shooting off into the sky. Thick white steam blew from the Hogwarts express, though it didn't smell of smoke, I noticed. The hum of the crowd bounced off the platform walls, parents and guardians rushed to hold their children and get them on board.

"See, Mum! That girls in her robes." I pointed to a girl who looked like she'd been in her first year too. She was dressed from head to toe in Hogwarts clothing and couldn't look happier about it. I'd wanted to put my robes on at home but mum had insisted I wait until I was almost at Hogwarts and instead I'd dressed in a pink shirt with a blue jumper over it. She'd wanted to do something fancy with my hair because she said when she left for Hogwarts her hair had been a complete mess. My hair wasn't as bushy as mums had been at my age (I'd seen the photos) and she wondered if that's why not many people wanted to talk to her, but my hair was red like my dad's side of the family and dad had said. "Just let her tie it back. It doesn't matter what she does with it, she's ginger so she won't have any friends anyway." I'd laughed at that but mum had yelled at him for it.

"Come on, let's go find your cousins." Dad huffed.

"I feel sorry for Albus." Hugo said to Dad as we moved. I darted around a white haired boy and continued on.

"Why's that?" Dad asked, dropping an arm over Hugo's shoulder.

"He has a stupid name." Hugo said honestly.

"Hugo!" Mum exclaimed. "That's not very kind. Albus was named after Professor Dumbledore, you know that." She sounded shocked.

"Yeah, but it's a silly name," He shrugged, kicking a pebble out of his way. A part of me wondered if he was upset because he had to wait another few years before coming to Hogwarts.

"You're one to talk." I mumbled under my breath. Dad laughed but mum scolded me.

"Rose!" Then she turned to Dad and gave him a scary look. He let his smile drop then turned Hugo's head to face the way we were going.

"Come on." He said. It seemed we were still there before the others, so we stood in front of one of the train doors and I was tempted to leap on, but I knew we'd have to wait. Dad had my trunk and bags all put on board, ready for me to collect when we arrived.

Mum put the bag of mine she'd been holding on my shoulder, "Bag." She said, as if ticking off a list.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Jumper." She tugged on the strings of my jacket, smiling down at me. She held them in a way that made it seem as if she didn't want to let me go. Suddenly she holds both sides of my face before pulling me into a tight hug, squeezing me against her chest. I wondered if she'd cry. I realized in that moment that this was it. That I was going away from her, from Dad and Hugo and my bedroom and my house – to go and live and study at Hogwarts. _Hogwarts._ A part of me couldn't wait to go but at the same time, I was beginning to feel the same nerves as the other kids. "I'll miss you." She muffled into my hair. I squeezed her back just as tight. I'd miss her too.

"Here they come." Dad said and I glanced up to see them.

"I can see Albus." Mum said over my head. "And there's James, and Lily." I saw them heading our way: The Potters. At first I saw James, the eldest of the Potter children. He looked like his dad except his hair was lighter, brown instead of black with his grandmothers' eyes. He was a couple years older than me, and his brother Albus Severus who was stood behind him. Lily, the youngest was sat on top of a trunk on the trolley James was pushing. She was the same age as Hugo, and when we were younger he often joked and called me Lily and called Lily Rose. Mostly because she looked a little like a younger version of me. Her mum was my dad's sister, and Weasley genes showed through in us all.

Behind them was my Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. I'd known then my entire lives, I'd grown up with their children, my cousins. They were friends with Mum and Dad when Mum and Dad were young and in love. Of course, Dad had grown up with Aunt Ginny because she was his sister but Dad met Uncle Harry and Mum whilst at school. On this train. Another reason finding the right compartment for our Albus's and I's first journey.

It was Lily to spot us first. Her face lit up and she ran hard our way yelling "Uncle Ron! Uncle Ron!"

Dad barely had enough time to catch the girl barrelling into him. He hauled her up into his arms like he used to do with me.

"If it isn't my favourite Potter." He joked, winking at her and earning himself a tight smile.

"Have you got my trick?" She asked, looking down into his eyes.

Dad beamed, thrilled for the opportunity to impress. "Are you aware of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes–certified nose-stealing breath?"

I rolled my eyes. "Mum! Dad's doing that lame thing again." I groaned and crossed my arms. I looked over at the other Potters slowly strolling towards us and leaned back against one of the stone pillars. I wanted to just say goodbye, get on board and get on with it but I could see from the look Albus gave me that he was hesitant and not as eager as me.

"You say lame, he says glorious, I say — somewhere in between." Mum answered, looking at Dad softly. If she ever got tired of Dad's jokes and tricks, she never showed it and smiled no matter how many times he did it.

"Hang on. Let me just munch this . . . air. And now it's just a simple matter of . . . Excuse me if I smell slightly of garlic . . ." He breathed heavily into Lily's face and she giggled.

"You smell of porridge.

"Bing. Bang. Boing. Young lady, get ready to not being able to smell at all . . ." Dad reached up, pinched her nose and lifted it off.

"Where's my nose?"

"Ta-da!" Dad opened his hand and of course it was empty. I must admit when I was a little girl like Lily I'd loved that trick. I remembered the first time he'd even shown me. He'd been just as proud of himself as I was amazed at the magic. Now, older, I knew it was nothing but a lame parlour trick. Something the simplest of Witches and Wizards could do. Though I'd never tell Dad. He was proud of it. He and Mum were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Mum was incredibly gifted and talented in magic (Some say she's the brightest witch of her generation) but Dad wasn't so magically inclined. He even told me how he broke his wand in his second year. He said it was because he was too cool to use a wand. That he was like Dumbledore who could do magic without a wand.

Mum had let me believe it until I was old enough to question it. Then she told the truth.

I wondered where Albus was. He usually would have said something by now but when I glanced over the way he'd come, he was knelt on the ground with his dad looking sorry for himself. They were talking about something. He looked nervous, terrified even. I was nervous too – we were leaving home! But we'd be in this together. We'd be on the train together, get sorted into Gryffindor together, and have an amazing

time.

"You are silly." Lily declared, drawing my attention back to dad. Harry and Albus were slowly walking back to us. A handful of students who looked to be in their fifth or sixth year walked by, gawking at our little group.

"Everyone's staring at us again." Albus sighed, ducking around his mother to stand by my side and away from the edge of the platform.

Dad puffed out his chest. "Because of me! I'm extremely famous. My nose experiments are legendary!"

"They're certainly something." Mum added, giving me a look that forced a smile out of me.

"Parked all right, then?" Uncle Harry asked.

"I did. Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confund the examiner." He looked at Mum accusingly.

Mum's cheeks burned with colour, unable to hide the truth. "I thought nothing of the kind, I have complete faith in you."

"And I have complete faith he did Confund the examiner." I said and Albus laughed at my side.

"Oi!"

Uncle Harry finished off what he'd been saying to Albus. "Remember what I said. And listen to your professors, don't listen to James, and remember to enjoy yourself. Now, if you don't want this train to leave without you, you should leap on…"

I pulled Hugo into a quick hug, then I moved to Dad who gave me a really tight bear hug, who kissed my forehead and told me he'd miss me , and then mum did it all over again. She was trying not to cry.

"I'm going to chase the train out." Lily said.

"Lily, come straight back." Aunt Ginny told her.

"Rose. Remember to send Neville our love." Mum reminded me. Their old friend Neville was now a professor at school. Herbology, I thought.

I rolled my eyes again. "Mum, I can't give a professor love!" I exclaimed and now it was her time to roll her eyes, but she just kept on smiling. Albus was saying goodbye to his sister and his parents as I climbed on board. Most other students were already on the train (Probably hogging the best compartments too) so I didn't need to rush.

Suddenly, I didn't want to hurry off. I wanted to turn back to my parents to get one last look at them.

They weren't looking at me. They were exchanging a look with one another. I loved my parents. They had a weird and unusual love, not like the love you see in movies or TV or the kind you read about in fairy tales. But it felt truer than any of those. They'd fallen in love when they were a little older than I was now, and they'd hidden their love during the time of the second wizarding war I was lucky enough to miss.

Mum told me stories about how she and Dad had confessed their love to one another randomly, but how she was glad they had. They went through some dark times, but the moments in-between, the secret moments not even uncle Harry knew about, those were the moments that made it all worthwhile.

I was nowhere near ready for love, nowhere near old enough. I wanted to complete my OWL'S, graduate Hogwarts and find a job before I even think about romance, but I knew that when I did find it, I wanted it to be as pure and as true as theirs.

* * *

Asher's Note:

Hello! This chapter is a one-off chapter I was inspired to write this morning. It's the end scene from Deathly Hallows but from Rose Weasley's perspective. I hope you enjoy. If anyone is interested, this chapter is also the last chapter to another Harry Potter Story of mine called Magic, Might and Love – a 25-chapter story from Ron and Hermione's POV and it shows how they were secretly in love in-between what we see in Deathly Hallows. I left that story open until I wrote this, then decided it would fit for the ending of that story also. Anyway, hope you enjoy this as a one-off chapter.

P.S. The contents of this chapter are a mashup of what happens in the book, movie and Cursed Child. Hope you don't mind.

Thanks

~Asher~


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